1. Field of the Invention
This invention comprises a new two-compartment container having a simplified construction and improved protection against misuse or unintended use in comparison to known two-compartment packages.
Two-compartment containers which are preferably designated for packaging cosmetic preparations containing ingredients, which must be kept separate until application because otherwise they would react with each other, are already known in a variety of embodiments.
2. The Prior Art
Reference is made, for example, to the two-compartment container according to German Patent Application No. 35 28 525 comprising two separately fillable chambers which are assembled upon another and parted from each other by a separating element forming at least part of the bottom wall of the upper compartment while sealing the lower compartment, whereof the separating element may be opened by a tappet actuating element operated from outside allowing the components to adjoin and mix, whereby the separating element is constructed as a separating stopper fitting tightly in a canal opening between the upper and the lower chamber, thus allowing vertical movement of the enclosing tappet actuating element from the passage opening into one of the chambers. A further development of such a two compartment container represents the container described in German Patent Application No. 38 12 343, wherein the passage opening between the compartments assembled upon another is closed by a separating stopper connected to a tappet actuating element which is formed as an elongated hollow application nozzle reaching through the upper container compartment to its open mouthpiece, whereby the tappet actuating element, on its outside, is fitted with an external thread gearing into the complementary internal thread of a sealing cap fitted in the front wall, partly including a cylindrical ring-shaped projecting part, fitted turnable on the same and sealing the compartment from the front end and at its open upper side. When turning the sealing cap in the sense of a screw-in motion of the application nozzle into this ring-shaped projecting part, the free end of the application nozzle can be pushed through the front opening.
German Patent Application No. 36 11 925 discloses a waist-shaped bottle with a stopper placed in the waisted part of the bottle to divide the bottle in two separate compartments, which are connectible by pressing the stopper from the waisted level into the compartment opposite the bottle closure, constructed so that both compartments have a relatively big volume to allow different filling proportions for the mixing ratio, but wherein the components to be admixed are safely combined. This is realized by the fact that a bar connection is made between the stopper and the bottle closure attached to the screw thread so that the sealing cap has an impact collar supported by the front end of the connecting bar.
All these two-compartment containers, as described, are suitable packaging systems, being in practical use. However, their construction is relatively complicated as they consist of many single components making production and packaging rather expensive.